This post’s title came from The Onion’s piece immediately following Steve Jobs’ passing on October 5, 2011. How appropos.
This weekend marked the third anniversary of Steve Jobs death. I am too young to remember JFK’s assassination (though, I do remember where I was when I heard of JFK Jr’s death). Likewise, I am also too young to remember the assassination of MLK Jr. I remember 9/11 quite vividly, and I remember where I was when I heard that Michael Jackson died (racing go-karts in Northern California).
One thing I do not remember is what/where I was when I heard that Steve Jobs had died. In 2011 I was a junior in dental school. And unlike some of my fellow classmates, my wife and I were too poor to afford ourselves a way out of feature phone hades. That said, I was already pretty familiar with Apple Computer, Inc. and could have called myself—even then—a true believer. I had been using an Apple computer since early 2006, when I got my MacBookPro1,2 behemoth. Man was that thing big. I had been a PC user beforehand, and frankly wanted to try something new. What better Segway than Intel-powered Macs? Moreover, when I got my Mac it was like I was part of a niche community of people so much cooler than everyone else. No one had a Mac. At least that’s how I felt. I’m sure they did, but still. My other foray into the Apple universe was my 2007 iPod nano (2nd Generation), which was quite awesome as well.
What does this have to do with anything? Good question. I’m getting there.
By Steve’s death in 2011, I did not have an yet have an iPhone. I can distinctly remember instructing family and friends on the intricacies of iOS, and remember them commenting on how ironic it was that I had not an iPhone for myself. An iPhone was (is), as far as I can tell, one of the greatest gateway drugs of the tech ‘industry.’ And in 2011, I hadn’t been given the opportunity to try that gateway drug.
Fast-forward one year when iPhone 5 launched. 4-inch screen. LTE. Hotspotting. Graduation from dental school imminent. Income imminent. I could hardly be anything but over-zealous at the prospect of finally obtaining this one truly revolutionary device that I had only talked about having previously. The time was now. After a long journey to and from either Wyoming or Utah (I can’t remember which), we waltzed into the local RadioShack and got 16GB iPhone 5’s in his and her livery and then. Yay.
Ever since getting an iPhone in 2012, my technology experience has changed significantly. I had been a devout RSS user since my friend turned me on to it and Reeder. But by late 2012, my dissatisfaction with Facebook caused me to migrate mostly to Twitter (and that other sad failed good idea). When that happened, I found The Verge and the other myriad of technology websites. Then I found some blogs I loved. And in 2013, I started to catch on to podcasts. That changed my media consumption methodology drastically. Now I can’t get enough of Podcasts. It is, by far, just as important subscriptions to me as a media medium as Twitter. I wait patiently every week for the next episode of ATP and The Talk Show much like my grandparents likely looked forward to Johnny Carson doing his thing.
You could say that podcasts are one of the main reasons I am writing this post.
I have been wanting to write something this for a while. If for no other reason, just to share my adoration for my favorite podcast applications, and the indie developers (and these guys too) who create them. It is because of podcasts that I am revisiting an event that happened three years ago, one that did not mean nearly as much to me then as it does now. Through podcast discovery, I have listened to old episodes of The Talk Show, Build & Analyze, and Hypercritical (man, Dan Benjamin had some sweet podcast hosts back in the day). I have poured over old Daring Fireball, Marco.org, and Ars Technica posts regarding Steve’s passing.
This blog entry isn’t a tribute to Steve as much as it is to the people whose opinions and stories I value so greatly. I am writing this post via Squarespace on, you guessed it, a product from Steve’s company. Tomorrow I will go to work and on the commute to and from, I will listen to people talk about technology and other topics I love on, you guessed it, another product from Steve’s company. When I go home tomorrow night I might turn on a device that allows me to watch things I purchased on my phone on my TV. That product, you guessed it, came from Steve’s company as well. My wife will do the same. And so will almost everyone I know.
Thanks Steve